The Bob Costas approach

12/5/12 2:29 PM EST

The New Republic's Marc Tracy takes issue with Bob Costas for playing it down the middle in his handling of the gun control debate sparked by the recent murder-suicide by NFL linebacker Javon Belcher.

Costas was pilloried by the right for advocating for stronger gun control, but Tracy says Costas hedged.

"In the wake of an historic sports event, and with 20 million viewers watching, Costas said a few meaningless sentences about “perspective” and then effectively outsourced the rest of his commentary to [Fox Sports columnist Jason] Whitlock," Tracy writes. "He hedged in order to try to make himself inconspicuous."

In last night's follow-up interview with MSNBC, Costas did advocate for "more comprehensive gun control legislation," but said he "never mentioned the Second Amendment, never mentioned the words 'gun control.'” Tracy would like to see Costas get his hands dirty or stay out of it altogether. If you're going to take up a cause, Tracy writes, do so "without equivocation or apology, and in [your] own words."

It's a smart observation, and tells you a great deal about what makes Costas tick, but it's not fair to say Costas "outsourced" his opinions.

"You want some actual perspective on this?," Costas said during his 90-second halftime spot. "Well, a little bit of it comes from the Kansas City-based writer Jason Whitlock, with whom I do not always agree, but who today said it so well we may as well just quote or paraphrase from the rest of his article."

That's not outsourcing. That's an endorsment. And, given the platform, it was enough to turn Bob Costas, sportscaster, into -- as the New York Times headline put it -- Bob Costas, gun rights commentator and sportscaster. At least for a moment, it also brought the gun control debate back onto the table.

Costas certainly could have been stronger, but he could have been weaker, too. Tracy writes that in this day and age "you can be a great sports journalist, but you have to get your hands dirty. You can also be a great shill, although you may have to sell your soul. What you can’t be anymore is Bob Costas."

Really? Costas just took up a controversial political position (albeit cautiously), sustained widespread public criticism from the right wing, and kept his job as one of the most popular sportscasters on television. He stirred muddy waters and kept his hands clean. That, too, is an art.

Bob Costas is quite capable of being Bob Costas, and quite good at it.